The Darkness' Light
by Alexander Ingham
Summary: A story loosely based on events in the role-playing game, Shadow Sora, involving Kraken, the Heartless assassin and Storm, the pikachu hybrid keyblade mistress.
1. Reflection

Disclaimer: Kraken the Assassin is an original character that I have created. The setting his adventures take place in a slightly different version of an alternate history for the Kingdom Hearts Universe, created by a friend of mine, Storm the Keyblade Mistress, another author on Fanfiction.net. The original universe, and any mentions of characters from the game, Kingdom Hearts, are not my creations, they are property of both Disney and Squaresoft. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Darkness. That is where it always begins. Everything begins in darkness, it is the nature of life. It is where all things begin and end.but it is what one does when they are gifted with that brief flicker of light, we call life that truly matters in the end.  
  
"Kraken! Hurry up!" A boy called, his foot tapping the ground lightly in an impatient manner, arms crossed over his chest. Kraken, former assassin to the Dark Lord Sora, king of the Heartless, was sitting by himself on a log next to the now extinguished campfire. His red eyes fixed on his obsidian black hands. "Kraken! Don't make me come over there and drag you off that log! We're leaving! And about time too.if I had to spend one more minute on this god forsa-" "Shut up Ry, you loudmouth!" A girl's voice cried at the boy, sounding both angry and exasperated. "I wouldn't have to keep talking if that lazy lump over there would get a move on, Jessica! I swear, I don't know why we keep him around sometimes." The boy muttered, his voice trailing off as he walked towards the gummi ships which were finally repaired. "Cause Storm would murder us all if we left him behind." The girl said, speaking in a very matter of fact tone as she followed him.  
  
The Heartless smirked slightly as he listened to the two walk off. He had joined them only a few weeks earlier, after having escaped from Sora's castle at the end of the world with Storm and Neko. Neko was, as the name suggested, a cat, but not a normal cat. Neko had been subject to many horrible scientific experiments on his home world, and now had the ability to talk. Something he reminded them of every day.  
  
"LOUDMOUTH-SAMA!" Came a loud cry in the distance. Kraken turned slightly, his red eyes looking over at the ships, and the others Kraken had been travelling with. He saw the small orange cat running around the group, his usual hyper grin spread across his face. The cat had a nickname for all of them, Ry was the one he called 'Loudmouth-sama', a most fitting nickname if Kraken ever heard one. Kraken had grown attached to the small cat over time, though he still teased the cat quite often. Neko was one of the few reasons Kraken was here.but he was not the most important one.  
  
No. The real reason Kraken was here, was Storm. Storm was an interesting creature, she was half human, and half pikachu. She was Jessica's older sister, and she had served under Sora as a guard at his castle, while Jessica, like Kraken, had been an assassin. Only a few weeks earlier, Kraken had been ordered by his master to follow Jessica to Traverse Town, where she was to kill Riku. Sora's old friend. He followed her to Traverse Town, where he had planned to execute her and return home and serve his master once more.  
  
Things never go as one plans them to.  
  
Jessica failed to eliminate her target on Traverse Town, and chased him to various worlds, until they arrived at the desert world of Agrabah. It was there that Kraken's life changed. On the wind swept dunes, the Heartless assassin tracked his prey, until he arrived at their ships crash site.and where he first met Storm. The two battled across the dunes, while Jessica and the others escaped. Kraken was defeated and driven off.but he soon took his revenge, and captured Storm, intending to return to the End of the World, and his master with this prize.  
  
Once more, fate did not smile upon his dark designs.  
  
The assassin and his captive, along with the stow away Neko, crashed upon several worlds, including Wonderland and the Pride Lands. Eventually the two arrived at his master's castle, and he presented her to his master. Suffice to say, Sora was quite pleased to have the opportunity of dealing with a traitor from his kingdom. Kraken watched as she was subjected to torture after torture, and many other cruel and perverted acts his master committed against her.and that was when things changed. The cold-blooded assassin, a feared creature of darkness.had feelings for this 'traitor'. He found that he could not bare watching her subjected to these cruel acts any longer.he had to help her escape that place of unending darkness and hate. And for once in his existence he did something right.and they escaped.  
  
"Kraken?" A soft voice called from behind him. The Heartless felt the world slow down, like it always did when she spoke. He smiled, and turned, seeing the smiling face of the girl whom he had easily thrown away all that he had ever known to save her life. "It's time to go, we don't want the others to leave us behind, and Ry seems like he's about to throw another fit.then again he'd just have one later anyway..."  
  
*That's true...* The Heartless chuckled, slowly standing up, his crimson cape flowing around him softly. Storm walked over to him, and smiled up slightly, looking into his eyes. Kraken smiled back, and slowly took her hand in his as the two walked over to the ships.  
  
Yes. He had been born in darkness...he had lived in darkness, but now...he was in the light. Storm was his light. And if he had to, he would gladly give up a thousand years of darkness, just to spend one more minute in that light... 


	2. Realization

The swirling mass of interspace flew by the windows of the gummi ship as it followed its course, leading them towards their destiny at the End of the World.  
  
Kraken sighed as he leaned back in the pilot seat, the autopilot on for the moment, since there didn't seem to be any immediate danger. He closed his eyes for a second, glad to have the rest. It had been a long few days, the group had crash-landed only nearly a half dozen worlds, and had had almost no rest from the fighting.  
  
The first world Kraken had joined with the others was on Spira, Storm and Jessica's home world. Kraken and Storm met up with them there shortly after escaping from Sora's castle. The others had been glad to have Storm back, but were none to happy at the sight of the former assassin. Thankfully Storm had been able to talk them out of killing him once she explained how he'd helped her escape. But, the other reason they had come to Spira, was to warn the others of Sora's plot to infuse Sin, a nigh- invincible monster that had been ravaging the planet for hundreds of years, with the Heartless. The group followed the path through the Calm Lands and up Mount Gagazet, trying to catch up with the summoner Yuna and her guardians. Eventually the two groups merged, and they all journeyed together to try and find a way to stop Sora and Sin.  
  
It was after the group had journeyed through Zanarkand that things truly changed for the Heartless assassin. Before then, he had always thought that once this was over, he might be able to crawl back to Sora, beg for forgiveness from his master and return to his service. But after Zanarkand, when they boarded the Al bhed airship, Kraken's hopes for ever returning, were wiped away.  
  
Storm pulled him into a separate room, closing the door behind her. The Heartless didn't know what was going on, and was curious as to why she was looking so nervous. Storm turned bright red and mumbled something indistinct.  
  
"Kraken...I think...I mean I KNOW..." She muttered, staring hard at her feet, she faltered. "What I mean to say is..." She took a deep breath, and Kraken found himself looking deep into her brown eyes, "Umm...I think I'm falling in love with you..."  
  
Kraken's world slowed. He could feel the space around him constricting, slowly compacting itself, tighter and tighter, it seemed to be suffocating him, and eventually, constricted into a massive ball of nervous energy that found its home in his stomach. His mouth was dry, his head spun, and the heart in his breast seemed to beat at a tremendous pace. He didn't know what to say, did he feel the same way about her? His heart went silent. His mind suddenly more clear then it ever had been before. He knew the answer. He did feel the same way for her. He had thought it was only the pity he felt for her at the hands of his mad master Sora...but deep in his being he knew that it had been his love for her.  
  
*...Kraken...Kraken feel the same way...* And with those few, simple, understated words, Kraken's world came back at full force. Time sped up, the horrible ball of energy knotted in his stomach disappeared, and he had never felt such blessed relief of his being in all his existence. The two quickly embraced each other and their lips met for a long and passionate kiss. 


	3. Memories and fears

After their confessions of love on the Al bhed airship, Kraken became quite protective of Storm. He vowed to himself that he would die protecting her if he had to. He felt that to give his life away if it meant that she could survive would be well worth the price. He would also become enraged if anyone tried to hurt her, or take her away from him. Soon the group finished their long flight to the city of Bevelle where they would hopes to find an alternative way of defeating the monster known as Sin, since they did not accept the Final Aeon and had killed Lady Yunalesca.  
  
As they neared Bevelle the airship had been boarded secretly by a mysterious young man. Soon after a group of soldiers came aboard to look for him, and resulted in a massive battle onboard the ship, between the stowaway and the soldiers. After the battle was over the stowaway introduced himself as John. John had drawn the attention of more then just a few soldiers though, as soon what must have been nearly the entire Bevelle military converged on the ship and began to board it, in search of John. Unable to handle an entire army, John was captured and sentenced to execution for an unjust reason, so the group decided to free him. The group staged a daring rescue before escaping deeper into the city, where they met with the head maester, maester Kinoc to try and discover a way of defeating Sin without the Final Aeon. The maester proved to know nothing and Yuna decided they should go and meet with the Fayth in Bevelle temple to see if it had an idea.  
  
The group separated to make their way to the temple, as the guards would still be looking for them. So once the main group reached the temple, they were forced to delay their meeting with the Fayth until the others arrived.  
  
Storm leaned against the wall of the temple, waiting for John and Auron to arrive so that they could all proceed to the Chamber of Fayth and then go to defeat Sin. Kraken was leaning on the wall next to her, keeping himself close as he always did now. His crimson eyes were watching the center of the room, where Jessica and Riku were fighting. Storm shook her head as she watched her sister. Jessica was always looking for a fight, and she didn't usually care who with. She watched as her sister slashed at Riku with her Keyblade, leaving a small cut on his shoulder. She looked over at Kraken and grinned.  
  
".Kraken, I bet you could beat her." She watched a small smile spread across his face.  
  
*Maybe...it would be interesting to see...* He said, slowly sitting himself down on the ground, his back placed firmly against the wall, *Perhaps Kraken will try.*  
  
The fight was ended quickly as Jessica dealt the silver-haired boy a powerful hit and he admitted defeat.  
  
"Mwahaha! Alright, who's next!" Jessica laughed as Riku sulked off to the side of the room. Storm watched Kraken stand wordlessly, and stride out into the center of the room, and stopped a few feet way, facing Jessica with his sword resting gently on one shoulder. A small smirk crept onto his face as he looked at her, and he had only one question before the match.  
  
*Powers?*  
  
"Anything goes. Powers, fists, swords..." The Half Heart smirked and looked up at Kraken. A grin spread over Kraken's face.  
  
*Good.* He looked over at Storm and gave her a wink, *Kraken try leave sister in one piece.* He then turned back to face her sister, lowering himself into a fighting position. Storm watched silently as the fight began. At first Kraken and Jessica traded blows like a normal sparring battle. Jessica would fire at him with magic, while he would use simple attacks against her. It wasn't until Kraken made himself invisible with his natural abilities and tried to use a surprise attack against Jessica, that she began to become worried.  
  
Jessica turned as she heard Kraken's footsteps and fired an ice spell at him. Storm watched as the blast hit him and he reappeared, flying towards her sister in a jump kick, a look of immense pain on his face. She twitched slightly as she watched him plant his boot into her sister's stomach and he landed on the ground hard. He managed to get back to his feet and flipped away from the half heart, and back to his sword. She noticed a small twitch of pain run through him, and a steady trickle of blood flowing from the wounds on his shins after a previous attack by Jessica. He began moving forward again, his sword ready. Jessica got back to her feet, her breathing heavy, the kick having knocked the wind out of her. Storm could feel her heart beating a little faster. She was feeling a little worried for Kraken now, he was looking tired and his wounds were bleeding pretty badly.  
  
"I'm.I'm not out yet!" Jessica said, leaning on her Keyblade, her eyes locked on Kraken.  
  
*Kraken ready for more...let Kraken see what you got. Why Master Sora pick you.* Kraken said, panting as he kept walking forward, then he let out a silent roar and charged forward, his blade slashing at Jessica. Storm's eyes widened as she watched Jessica's Keyblade come up and dig deep into Kraken's shoulder. She knew it was just a small practice battle between her sister and Kraken...but it seemed almost real, like Jessica was trying to really hurt Kraken. Her heart was beating faster as the battle intensified again. Storm didn't know what to feel. She felt excited watching the fight, she wanted to see who would win, either her sister, or her boyfriend...but the other, conflicting feeling she had as she watched, made her go a bit pale. She watched her sister fighting with all her might to defeat Kraken, and that scared her. Jessica was fighting to win, and when she fought to win, it meant that she would do whatever it took. She looked at Kraken who also looked serious, but badly injured. She felt her stomach knot slightly at the thought of what might happen. What if Jessica went too far? What if she did do whatever it took, and Kraken ended up badly hurt...or worse, he could end up dead...a picture of Kraken's body, lying cold on the ground in front of her flashed before her eyes and she shivered, she didn't know what she would do then...  
  
Soon it was down to the end. Kraken and Jessica stood for a final attack. The heartless dodged out of the way of a few ice spells, and finally rolled to one knee...where he was unable to stand. Jessica approached and raised her Keyblade above her head.  
  
"KRAKEN! DUCK! DODGE! SOMETHING! YOU CAN STILL BEAT HER! YOU'RE  
  
STRONGER THAN HER!" Storm cried out, her heart beating as she watched her sister bring her blade down towards Kraken, and once again she had that flash of an image. She thought for a minute that Jessica would miss and her blade would cut into him, and Kraken would be gone.he would simply fall over, and be dead...  
  
The Keyblade touched home on the side of Kraken's face. The blunt side knocking into him with enough force that he was shoved to the side and unconscious. Storm sighed to herself as she watched him fall to the floor. It was over now, but more importantly, he was alive. 


End file.
